-a food blog by K.P. Wee, author of "The 1988 Dodgers: Reliving the Championship Season," "John Cangelosi: The Improbable Baseball Journey of the Undersized Kid from Nowhere to World Series Champion," and "Tom Candiotti: A Life of Knuckleballs"

Category: Thai

This post covers several visits to Patsara Thai Restaurant, which is located at Seymour and Robson Street in downtown Vancouver.

Back in mid-May, I was there for lunch and ordered their Moo Karitem Kai Dao off their lunch menu. This dish was their stir fried pork meal with garlic and served with fried egg and rice.

It also came with a starter of a small salad and fried dumplings.

I just wanted to try this dish, but really, I wasn’t a big fan of it. The servers were friendly, though. They had smiles on their faces (which, for some reason, you can’t even take for granted these days anymore at so many other establishments) and refilled my glass with water every chance they got.

On another visit, I had a different meal off their lunch menu. This time, it was the Panang, which was red curry in coconut milk with the meat of your choice (among chicken, pork, and beef). It also came with rice.

Once again, the dish came with a small salad and fried dumplings.

As for the meat that I chose for the Panang, I picked beef.

I definitely liked this dish better than the stir fried pork. In fact, I would say I loved the Panang.

I would say the one thing that’s been consistent in all of my visits has been the service. People seem to be cheerful and friendly at Patsara, unlike the customer service folks at certain London Drugs stores or Starbucks. What can I say? It is what it is.

Finally, one more visit some time later… This time, I had the Red Duck Curry, which didn’t come with rice (and you had to order it separately). This one was AWESOME!

Since these three visits, I’d been back but I will post about those other meals next time! But Patsara is definitely worth checking out if you’re in the downtown Vancouver area. The service has been great and the red duck curry and panang have definitely been winners!

One late afternoon on a Saturday in December, I was in the Broadway/Main Street area in Vancouver, and stopped by Mali Thai Restaurant on Main and East 11th Avenue.

It was 4:30 at the time and the restaurant was open, but nobody was at the counter and the dining area was completely empty.

A few moments later, a man – whom I presume was the owner – came out and greeted me. He muttered something about dinner hours starting at 5 pm but it was okay for me to order. He was friendly.

He was also kind enough to bring a glass of water without my asking.

I ordered their Pork Satay (C$9.95), which was four sticks of marinated pork pieces in a mixture of Thai spices and coconut milk – served with Thai peanut sauce. There was actually two options for satay – chicken or pork – and I opted for the latter.

I also had the Mali Pad Thai with Beef (C$13.95), a Thai noodle dish with tofu, egg, bean sprouts, and ground peanuts with Tamarind sauce.

The noodle dish actually came out before the satay, so I munched on that first. To be honest, the Mali Pad Thai was just average; even though it was advertised on the menu as an “authentic Thai dish,” I didn’t think it was that great. The best way to describe the noodles is that… they were a bit oily?

The beef in the noodles, on the other hand, was tender, which was exactly how I wanted it to be.

Overall, the staff was friendly. Another diner came in shortly after I had ordered, and I assume he was a regular because the owner dude kept talking to him. There was another lady who dropped by afterward and went into the kitchen; she came out to clean the tables and kept thanking me and also that customer for being there.

I didn’t need to use the washroom… but I didn’t notice one in the restaurant at all. The place is pretty tiny.

As for wifi, well, as I recall, I was connected onto the free Telus wifi – so that was good.

But if you’re looking for “authentic” Thai food… I will have to say it’s not a place that I would recommend based on the taste of the Mali Pad Thai. If you want kind service, polite service… then you would like Mali Thai…

One Wednesday evening in December, I stopped by Pink Elephant Thai by the Marine Drive SkyTrain Station for dinner.

It was fairly busy on this evening, but the waitresses were quick. I was seated almost immediately and had a lot of time to scan through the menu.

Initially, I wanted the Calamari but changed my mind because, c’mon, I’d had that dish so many times in my life. Instead, I picked the Thai Style Pork Cheek (C$10.95), which was grilled and marinated pork pieces with Thai herbs and spices.

I also had the Matsaman, which was simmered coconut curry with onions, potatoes, and cashew nuts. There was a choice of meats that came with this dish, and I chose Oxtail AAA Grade (C$17.95). The other choices were chicken, beef, tofu, veggies, and prawns.

For the pork cheek, the sauce was a tad spicy – for me anyway – even though on the menu it gave just a one-chili rating. The pork cheek was tender.

The curry dish was delicious. The oxtail was very tender, obviously more so than the pork cheek. This dish didn’t come with rice, but I didn’t want rice anyway.

Because it was near Christmastime, the flatscreen was showing some Christmas movie featuring Mickey Mouse – obviously on one of the American channels. And then after that, it was showing Home Alone 2.

Overall, a good dinner. One downside was that the tables were so close together that I could hear the conversation at the table to my right. Didn’t want to, but I heard everything they were saying.

By the way, there’s a second location of Pink Elephant Thai, on Alberni Street in downtown Vancouver.

Last Friday, a group of us decided to have lunch together downtown, and I was asked to pick a restaurant. I chose Sala Thai on Burrard and Smythe downtown, and fortunately I called ahead – because the place was packed for lunch. I hadn’t been at Sala Thai for about 10 years – and at most only a couple of times.

For this get-together, there was myself, K., M., N., and Y.

I went with the Mussamun Curry (Specialty Curry), which was Beef simmered in coconut milk & mussamun curry, with tomatoes and potatoes – and topped with roasted peanuts. You can ask for the level of spiciness, and I went with “medium” (which was rated level 2 out of a maximum of 4).

The Mussamun Curry, by the way, cost C$10.00 – in case you’re wondering.

I believe M. went with their Salathai Rice Special, which was a large portion of fried rice with egg and all sorts of veggies and a choice of beef, pork, or chicken. Meanwhile, N. picked Thai Green Curry – and asked for the spiciest possible – and still didn’t think it was spicy enough. I can’t remember the others exactly, but K. might have chosen Thai Red Curry and thought that it was too spicy.

Mine was fine – and for this visit, it was more about the conversation and catching up more than it was about the food. But I definitely enjoyed mine. And with a full house at lunch hour, you can imagine most people felt the same about what they ordered too!

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About “Let’s Eat Out Every Other Week”

KP Wee, the writer of this food blog, is a published author from Vancouver, Canada. He has written several books, including "Tom Candiotti: A Life of Knuckleballs" and "Fess Up, Jessup!" Check out KP's other food blog at letseatoutonceaweek.wordpress.com. He can be contacted at: kp.wee.is@gmail.com

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